So, you’re planning a getaway to Townsend, TN, but you don’t want to have to leave your dog at home or at a kennel while you’re gone. Plus, it actually saves you money to bring your pet along! You won’t have to pay for a dog sitter or the cost of a kennel, and you’ll get to have your pet by your side throughout your trip! When you bring your pet along, your cabin will really feel like a home away from home! And you won’t have to worry about how your pet is doing while you’re away!

Fortunately, Townsend, TN is in close proximity to a number of cabin rental companies that rent pet friendly cabins near Townsend TN.

With these companies, your dog or cat is their guest as well. To help you out, we’ve listed some of our favorite pet friendly cabinsnear Townsend TN. Your golden retriever will be staying in the lap of luxury in a cabin near Townsend TN. Pet friendly cabins are just one of the many specialty accommodations you can find near Townsend.

The following cabin rental companies provide some of the best pet friendly accommodations in the area:

“We’re very pleased to again partner with the City of Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains Association to offer the public a variety of musical styles for this year’s ‘Music of the Mountains festival,” said Dale Ditmanson, park superintendent. “Our staff has lined up a wide spectrum of old-time, traditional, and bluegrass music performers. With the change to an all day festival we hope to allow more of our visitors to experience the rich traditions of mountain music.”

Beginning Friday at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend at 7 pm, Celtic band Four Leaf Peat gets the festival started off with a rousing concert.

Sugarlands Visitor Center just outside Gatlinburg is the site of all festival goings on Saturday as the Lost Mill String Band, Boogertown Gap Band, Brien Fain, Tony Thomas, Matt Morelock and Ferd Moyse and the Mountain Strings perform that afternoon. Later in the day, at 7 pm Saturday, Steve Brown and Hurricane Ridge play at the Plaza at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.

Festivities make their way to Cosby, TN on Sunday with “Heritage, Harps and Hymns.” Performances get started at 2 pm at the Smoky Mountain Visitor Center in Cosby.

“Music of the Mountains” is a celebration of musical traditions of the southern Appalachian Mountains, showcasing the evolution of mountain music over time,” said Kent Cave, park ranger. “The festival is one of several special events the park has developed to tell the story of the people who lived here prior to the park’s establishment in 1934.

“Musical expression was often, and still is, a part of daily life in the southern mountains, and mountain music is tied to Smokies history like no other part of our culture.”

Seating at Sugarlands Visitor Center (865-436-1291) is limited to 160 persons per concert, and available for free on a “first come, first serve” basis.

This is Townsend’s week – the annual Spring Festival and Old Timers Day, May 3 and 4, 2013! It’s that time of year when bluegrass, clogging, arts and crafts, BBQ, storytelling, and wildflower walks, all come together in harmony and at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains in Townsend, Tennessee.

As always, the Townsend Spring Festival promises to be a weekend packed with events, and to everyone’s delight, great food. Check out the schedule of events including band lineup, food vendors, craft vendors, demonstrators, authors and other activities so that you don’t miss out on your favorite things that early May weekend.

Old Timers Day, Cades Cove
Celebrate the heritage and culture of Cades Cove with the Cades Cove Preservation Association at Old Timers Day at the Cable Mill visitors center. Former residents will speak of growing up and living in this historic valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park while musicians play historic mountain music around the lawn at the Mill area. The CCPA will also have historic exhibits and photographs of homesteads that populated the valley.

Take a FREE Townsend Shuttle

Buses, donated from the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, will run from the Heritage Center to Trillium Cove to Little River Railroad Museum to the Townsend Visitors Center and back to the Heritage Center. One bus will run from 10:30 am to 6 pm and a second from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm, both days. Two buses will be in operation from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm each day. The last bus will leave the Townsend Visitor Center at 6 pm and return to the Heritage Center, on both Friday and Saturday.

During the months of April and May, Cades Cove really ramps it up with events geared at getting people out into nature. But it’s not just a guided hiking tour, or a day highlighting some of the many historic structures that make up Cades Cove, it’s things like Full Moon tours, blacksmithing, along with birdwatching in the Cove.

And though the ideas may sound simple, they’re pretty effective at drawing a spring crowd. The first event, the Cades Cove Full Moon Tour, takes place in late April on the 25th of the month. That’s followed by another tour the following month on May 23.

Just meet at the Orientation Shelter at the entrance to the Cades Cove Loop Road. Things will get started around 8:30 pm and last till 10:30 pm. It’s a FREE event too. You get to take in Cades Cove from a different, and a very memorable perspective. Don’t forget to bring your walking shoes, some water and a flashlight for this event. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. The Full Moon Tour of Cades Cove is subject to cancellation due to hazardous weather.

There’s just one more date to take advantage of the Let’s Go Birding program put on by Cades Cove – April 27. Just be at theCades Cove Amphitheatre at 8 am for the program, which lasts till around 10:30 am. This is another FREE program put on by Cades Cove. For all the bird enthusiasts out there, this is a great way to see a number of Smokies species in their natural environment – Cades Cove. It’s a morning of bird watching in a spectacular locale. It’s an easy two-mile walk, and don’t forget to bring along your binoculars. Inclement weather can cause cancellation of the program. Call (865) 448-4104 for additional information.

Blacksmithing was as big a part of early Smoky Mountain life as farming and Cades Cove is keeping the tradition alive. Join Cades Cove in April and May for four blacksmithing events, starting April 27 with additional event dates of April 28, May 25, and May 26.

It will all take place at the Cades Cove Blacksmith building near the Cades Cove Visitor Center/Cable Mill area from 10 am to 4 pm, and like most Cades Cove events it’s FREE! Come learn the art of blacksmithing and why it was such an important part of early Smoky Mountain life. Stop by at any time, the blacksmith program is ongoing through the day. Accessible to persons using wheelchairs.

Unfortunately, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced recently that three major campgrounds will remain closed this year due to budget cuts by the federal government.

Not only that, park officials reported that one horse camp and two picnic areas will not open as well. Other facilities will open later than normal, park officials say. The delayed openings are a direct result of staffing and hiring limitations that impacted the park’s ability to conduct preseason preparation work on its facilities, park officials said in a release Tuesday.

Facilities to remain closed in 2013 include the Look Rock Campground and Picnic Area and the Abrams Creek Campground in Tennessee, and the Balsam Mountain Campground and Picnic Area (including the associated Heintooga Ridge and Balsam Mountain Roads) and the Tow String Horse Camp in North Carolina.

Under the renewed schedule, the park’s plans for facility and area openings are:

Park Road Openings – Round Bottom/Straight Fork Road will open April 1; Parsons Branch and Rich Mountain Road will both open on April 5; Roaring Fork Nature Trail and Little Greenbrier are set to open April 1. Heintooga Ridge and Balsam Mountain Roads will be closed for the season.

Clingmans Dome Road is open, but will officially open for the summer season on March 29.

Backcountry Office – The Backcountry Office located at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, near Gatlinburg, TN, is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Backcountry reservations and permits can be obtained online at www.smokiespermits.nps.gov or by calling 865-436-1297.

To make reservations at the five campgrounds, and all group campsites, horse camps, and picnic shelters, visitors can go to www.Recreation.gov or, alternatively, book reservations by calling 877-444-6777.

Camping – Starting April 12, all Smoky Mountain campgrounds will open on a staggered schedule. For the five campgrounds on Recreation.gov, reservations are required at Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont for the period from May 15-October 31; at Cataloochee Campground sites must be reserved; and Cosby Campground, there is a limited number of reserved sites available. Camping fees range from $14 to $23 per site/night.

Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont campgrounds do provide campers with an opportunity to camp in “generator free” campsites. These sections can be reserved through Recreation.gov. Group Camping will be available through the website at Big Creek, Cataloochee, Cosby, Deep Creek, Elkmont, Cades Cove, and Smokemont. The cost for group camping ranges from $26 to $65 per site/night.

Horse Camps at Anthony Creek, Cataloochee, and Round Bottom will open April 1 and at Big Creek on April 12. Tow Sting will be closed for the season. Reservations are only available through Recreation.gov. The horse site fees are $20 at all horse camps except for Big Creek where it is $25.

Baptists first made their mark in Cades Cove in 1825 when John and Lucretia Oliver organized a branch of the Miller’s Cove Baptist Church in the cove. In those days it was an independent entity. Many of the first Baptist churches in the area would eventually split from one another over issues regarding missionary work and other practices.

Baptists at the time Cades Cove and the Smokies was settled were divided into a few groups: church members who supported Sunday schools, the practices of missionary work and temperance societies, and those that didn’t support any of those initiatives. To some there just wasn’t that Biblical text that called for such things in worldly society. When these issues came about, a number of Cades Cove Baptists, including pastor Johnson Adams, were dismissed from the original Baptist church affiliation due to their beliefs.

On May 15, 1841, Adams and other disenfranchised Smokies pioneers banded together and established the Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church. The start was rocky. They had no meeting house and had to meet in individual homes. Sometimes they made arrangements to meet at the Primitive Baptist or Methodist church buildings. Also, in the Smokies there was much confusion over the Civil War. During the Civil War and reconstruction, the Missionary Baptists didn’t meet for long periods of time. After the war however, they had a particularly successful revival and were able to erect their own church building in the Cades Cove area of the Smoky Mountains. Their church was constructed on Hyatt Hill in 1894.

Over the years, the church roll would grow from 40 to over 100 members, prompting the construction of a new building in 1915. This building is the one visitors to Cades Cove can still see today.

It isn’t very hard to find things to do in Townsend, Tn. That’s if you know where to look. So if you’re looking mood, look in the direction of the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center starting this month (March) and notice all the cultural and artistic demonstrations going on.

From woodcarving to jewelry displays to photography, crafts, and various art exhibits, the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center in Townsend has something for the artist in all of us. Beginning March 19 and running up to Christmas, various artisans will be selling their pieces at the center and guests can come by and visit with the artists as well.

March looks to be a pretty busy month in Townsend, Tn. With the town set to host three large shows highlighting the work of woodcarvers and quilters, the Townsend Visitors Center likely won’t see a break until the first of April. Each event will take place in the exhibit room at the visitors center.

Intricate quilts made from members of the Foothills Quilters Guild in Maryville, TN will be on display from March 1-16. Hand-made and machine-made large and small quilts will both be featured as a part of this exhibit. Visitors will get to see the true craftsmanship, talent and skill of the Guild’s members.

The Foothills Quilters Guild strives to promote and encourage the unique art of quilt-making and instill an appreciation and pride in preserving the area’s heritage. The Guild welcomes beginners to professional quilters to join in an effort to carry on such a time-honored tradition. The Guild meets at the First Church of the Nazarene, located at 1610 E. Broadway in Maryville, on the first and third Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Collected at the first meeting in July, a yearly fee is required of each Guild member.

From March 19-30, the visitor’s center in Townsend will be the place to view local woodcarvers’ creations. Stop by and see some of our local woodcarvers as they demonstrate the craft of turning a piece of wood into a work of art. They’re really talented, enjoy showing off their wares and talking about how they got into woodcarving. You might even pick up a few pointers yourself if you’ve tried your hand at the meticulous art.

Woodcarvers including Hezzie Holden, James Dull, Chris Rayburn and John Keydash will be among those representing the Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply Store at Nawger Nob in Townsend. The store offers woodcarving classes that teach this time-honored Appalachian craft, along with a wide selection of woodcarving tools, such as chip carving knives, mesh sandpaper and beginner kits.

Lendel Abbott will also be demonstrating his knife woodcarving. Abbott created and donated the Visitors Center’s hand-carved mantel, which is hand-carved with a cabin and mountains in the background and is stained light brown.

The exhibits will be free of cost and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Townsend Visitors Center is located at 7906 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy in Townsend, TN.

Another feature of the Cable Mill display of Cades Cove is the preserved Cantilever barn, a design in which the upper story was larger than its base. This design allowed animals which were normally outside to stand underneath the over hang in order to get out of the sun or rain. The farm animals resting under the eaves in Cades Cove would have included pigs, hogs, chickens, goats, and in wintertime, cattle.

In summer cove farmer’s cattled were kept on the grassy balds of the Great Smoky Mountains. Gregory’s Bald is one still in existence today and was named for one of the men who made their living looking after the cattle in the summertime. Also, farm equipment could be kept dry if placed under the large eaves of the cantilevered barn as there were no posts or walls to get in the way.

“Col. Hamp” Tipton, who served in the Mexican War, had the Tipton Place built in the early 1870s. The cantilever barn, a replica of an earlier one in the same place, stands on the other side of the road from the house.

Cantilever barns usually have two log cribs, each measuring about twelve feet by eighteen feet and separated by a fourteen- to sixteen-foot driveway. The topmost logs of each crib extend eight to ten feet out to the barn’s sides, becoming the cantilevered primary supports for a whole series of long secondary cantilevers which run from front to back across the entire length of the barn. A heavy timber frame, aligned over the corners of the cribs and the outer ends of the cantilevers, supports eave beams and heavy purlins, which are the major structural features of the loft. Most barns have a gable roof. Lofts were originally used for storing hay, loaded conveniently from wagons pulled into the driveway between the cribs. The cribs were livestock pens, while the sheltered area under the overhanging loft provided space for storing equipment and grooming animals.

Townsend’s Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival (April 19-20) is an interactive arts event connecting the community with fiber arts activities. The festival will include fiber animal exhibitions, vendor market, classes, demonstrations of spinning, needlecrafts, dyeing, weaving, and many other fiber processes. You’ll also have the chance to participate in hands-on projects for children and adults, view local artists’ work, purchase fiber craft supplies, and get information about local fiber activities, groups, and businesses.

This year’s fiber arts festival will take place in the Townsend Visitors Center as well as at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. Both are top notch facilities for the Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival. You’ll find fiber arts classes and demonstrations, vendor shopping, great food, good friends and a memorable experience in each setting.

In all, this event celebrates all things Fiber Arts, beginning with the raw materials (catch the sheep herding and sheep shearing demonstrations at the festival), through the creative processes (check out the classes and non-animal demonstrations at both locations), and finally, the end product (visit a great collection of vendors who will fill your every supply and project need)!

Townsend is known as the “Peaceful side of the Smokies”, and a place that’s far different from other communities near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We hope you’ll enjoy your visit and check out what all Townsend has to offer including Townsend cabins, all the Townsend events, and some of the Townsend restaurants.

Goings on at the Townsend Visitors Center: Border Collie Sheepherding by Leigh Anne and Paul Tucker and Sheep-shearing by William Rick, plus demonstrations of weaving, spinning, and other fiber crafts.